New to feeding LPS. Q/A

[nellecat]

Hey guys I am new to LPS and corals but i have had my 20g tank running for about 4 months and I have a few corals in there. I have a torch coral, 2 acans, and a pom pom coral. I know most corals are photosynthetic and create their own food with light. But I was wondering what corals those were? And what corals do i need to feed. Also, how do i feed them, and what with? Any comments, help, or support would be appreciated!

Thanks,
Jake

 

[Thisseemsfishy]

LPS love to be feed, no it's not needed but it has been shown to increase growth rate. I feed mine Coral Frenzy, but there are many brands out there. You can also make your own by grinding up freeze dried foods into a powder then mixing with water.

I turn off anything that creates water movement and let it settle down, then mix my food with tank water and squirt a little at the polyps or mouths with a syringe. If you have fish, shrimp, or crabs that like to eat at the food, you can take a 20oz or so bottle cut it and put it over the coral and squirt the food down in there, this way the coral can eat undisturbed. I usually let them have about 30 mins to eat then turn the pumps back on.

Hope this helps! GL

 

[IridescentLily]

I agree with thisseemsfishy. I feed my torch and frogspawn once a week with a tiny bit of pe mysis and coral frenzy mixed in with a couple tablespoons of water from the tank. Then i suck up this mixture into a (cheap but good) plastic turkey baster i bought from the grocery store and keep under the stand, and blow some (gently) right above the corals mouth so that it falls in their mouth area. It takes mine about 20 minutes to eat it.

 

[snorvich]

What April stated works well. I feed Fauna Marin Ultra pellets for LPS. I turn off flow and powerheads and the pellets are crushed and consumed readily. Recommended.

 

[nellecat]

Thanks guys! You all were a big help. I think I know what I'm doing now.

 

[nellecat]

Hey guys I know I am asking a lot I'm sorry. But do you think you could make like a 2 minute video on how to do this. I seem to like spray it all over the tank then it just ends up getting caught in the crushed coral on the bottom :/.

Thanks
Jake

 

[Thisseemsfishy]

What are you using to feed them? I use a small syringe, not a baster.

 

[Hens4Fish]

I also use a syringe, or pipet. But you have to have no water movement. My chalices eat like that, but it takes 5 min to open up, then 10 min to eat..at least. Actually fun to watch. What do you guys feed chalices? Seems like sometimes my chalices cant digest the mysis that I use.

 

[Thisseemsfishy]

What do you guys feed chalices? Seems like sometimes my chalices cant digest the mysis that I use.

I have 2 pieces of Chalice and I feed them Coral Frenzy just like everything else.



nellecat

I'm sure you can go to youtube and search for it, its hard to imagine there not being a video out there about it. Seems like there's one for everything

 

[Hens4Fish]

Is coral frenzy a liquid food or something that has small pieces in it?

 

[BigAl2007]

Here's a youtube video showing how to feed a Sun Coral (where you have to get some food on each polyp)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbFJ5xDZSSs

 

[BigAl2007]

Here's a youtube video showing how to feed a Sun Coral (where you have to get some food on each polyp)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbFJ5xDZSSs

 

[Thisseemsfishy]

Is coral frenzy a liquid food or something that has small pieces in it?

It is a powder that you mix with tank water. It has tons of things in it, plenty of protein.



Keep in mind, you do not normally have to feed every polyp to ensure its survival, the sun coral you do.

 

[Hens4Fish]

Yeah, I know. I like feeding them every few days, and really just do it because its fun. I also think it makes the coral grow faster, but that could just be me.